"The only person I talked to about it was my husband, and of course he said, 'Go ahead, yeah, you can try it.' Neither one of us really thought I would win," said Tess Lojacono of East Aurora, N.Y.

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Mayor Luke Ravenstahl welcomed Lojacono at the West End Overlook and gave her a key to the city Monday morning.

The contest asked people over the age of 45 to submit their dreams to start a business in Pittsburgh. It was done to raise awareness about the city's vibrancy by a partnership that also included Allegheny County, the Heinz Endowments and the Benedum, Buhl, Jewish Healthcare, Pittsburgh and Mellon foundations.

"It was an opportunity for me to say, 'Oh, I've got a dream, let me do this, let me bring what I have to even more places,' " Lojacono told Channel 4 Action News anchor Sally Wiggin.

Lojacono graduated from the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University. She started a business five years ago called Fine Art Miracles, inspiring seniors in nursing homes to create art. That's what she was doing when Wiggin met her this week at Cumberland Crossing Manor at UPMC Passavant.

The work makes Lojacono happy, but she's even more pleased that a public vote chose the contest winner. "This is a city with a heart," she said. "This is a city that really cares about its people."

It's also a city with four new residents: Lojanco, her husband and their school-age daughters, who she says are excited about going to a new school.

"He is an international businessman, and looking to be able to use his skills and share with a corporation here because there is so much opportunity," she said.

The Jewish Healthcare Foundation did a study that found the economic impact would be over $2 billion if the city attracted over 1,000 new residents age 45 and up in the next 20 years.